Google Medical Info Will Soon Top Your Search

Searching for medical advice can be a real hit-or-miss type of situation when you're relying on websites on the internet. It all appears to be legitimate, but there's a LOT of bad data out there in the wild. That's part of the reason Google has brought on "relevant medical facts" to Knowledge Graph. This means that when you search for medical conditions – like "can I get pink eye from a carrot-related incident", you'll get results that Google has curated – and that you can trust.

This setup will allow you to get symptoms and treatments for sicknesses. You'll get information on how critical your condition might be. You'll see whether or not you might be contagious.

You'll see details on whatever ailment you might have – provided you search for it correctly. Some results will have what Google describes as "high-quality illustrations from licensed medical illustrators."

As Prem Ramaswami, Google Product Manager suggests, Google "worked with a team of medical doctors (led by our own Dr. Kapil Parakh, M.D., MPH, Ph.D.) to carefully compile, curate, and review this information."

"All of the gathered facts represent real-life clinical knowledge from these doctors and high-quality medical sources across the web," said Ramaswami, "and the information has been checked by medical doctors at Google and the Mayo Clinic for accuracy."

Ramaswami does add, though, that "What we present is intended for informational purposes only—and you should always consult a healthcare professional if you have a medical concern."

In other words – don't self-medicate, and don't blame Google if what you do to yourself based on their data makes you start on fire or melt internally.